The schedule to replace the LRU \u201cis proceeding nominally\u201d and within the timetable set by the defense spending law, according to the DGA.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, there\u2019s still the option of a foreign purchase if things end up taking to long. That decision is on the calendar for next year, the directorate said.<\/p>\n
RELATED![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/UC4F22YV6RDNTIN5UIKQIRODMM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The long-range tactical strike capability is \u201cessential\u201d and a niche that needs to be filled, French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill told lawmakers in an October hearing, noting that many other European countries have a rocket artillery capability.<\/p>\n
Europe lacks a home-made HIMARS equivalent, and European armies shopping for rocket artillery in recent years either picked the U.S. option, the PULS launcher by Israel\u2019s Elbit Systems, or Hanwha Aerospace\u2019s Chunmoo.<\/p>\n
Elbit is working with KNDS on a Europeanized version of PULS, while Germany\u2019s Rheinmetall and Lockheed Martin in 2023 joined forces to develop the GMARS system.<\/p>\n
Other than France, European countries still in the market for rocket artillery include Sweden and Norway. The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Spain already picked PULS, Poland acquired Chunmoo and HIMARS, while the Baltic countries, Romania and Italy are HIMARS customers. Meanwhile, the U.K. is considering expanding its fleet of M270 multiple launch rocket systems.<\/p>\n
That leaves a narrow commercial window for French-developed rocket artillery, though a push by the European Union\u2019s executive arm for member states to spend more of their defense budgets within the 27-nation bloc<\/a> may provide a tailwind for a European solution.<\/p>\n Safran and MBDA said their rocket-artillery system, dubbed Thundart, is based on \u201cmature and mastered subsystems,\u201d and an initial operational capability could be produced before 2030.<\/p>\n In the already saturated marketplace, \u201cthere will be no export market for a French system that will not be ready before 2030,\u201d said P\u00e9ria-Peign\u00e9.<\/p>\n The DGA signed innovation partnerships with the two consortiums in November, providing a first round of financing for the FLP-T program. The partnership contract<\/a> allows the procurement office to buy the system at the end of the development phase without a new competitive tender, provided the armament meets performance requirements.<\/p>\n The innovation partnership includes a \u201csignificant degree of self-financing\u201d by industry, Safran Electronics & Defense CEO Franck Saudo said in a parliamentary hearing<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n Each consortium will carry out a firing of its demonstrator, after which the French government will make a choice, the DGA said. At the end of the current 18-month contracts, the consortiums will submit a proposal that will allow the government to choose between various solutions, including off-the-shelf equipment, according to the directorate.<\/p>\n DGA head Emmanuel Chiva had told the S\u00e9nat foreign affairs committee in November that if the industrial partners would \u201cwork well,\u201d the first orders might be placed in late 2025 or early 2026. That now appears to have been pushed back by several months.<\/p>\n Safran and MBDA said the geopolitical context and changing artillery requirements reinforce the interest of a sovereign solution for France in particular, but also for other European countries, with Thundart the only rocket artillery system designed and built in Europe, free of U.S. arms-trade restrictions, and with independent manufacturing that provides control over the production pace.<\/p>\n The companies started working together on designing the new system at the end of 2023, and presented a mock-up of their Thundart 227 mm long-range guided-artillery rocket at the Eurosatory defense show in June 2024, as a first step in the FLP-T program. The rocket has 150-kilometer accuracy, according to Matthieu Krouri, MBDA\u2019s head of land combat systems.<\/p>\n MBDA has production capacity adapted to the size of the tactical munitions required in France\u2019s Centre-Val de Loire region, where final assembly will take place, the companies said. For its part, Safran has \u201cstrongly\u201d increased production of AASM Hammer guided bombs, which have a guidance kit \u201cvery similar\u201d to that of the Thundart munition, according to the consortium.<\/p>\n \u201cSafran and MBDA are convinced of the relevance of this solution and have already invested heavily in this project,\u201d the companies said. \u201cThe collaboration between Safran and MBDA on Thundart is a long-term project, which is already well advanced.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Thales and ArianeGroup teams are \u201cfully mobilized\u201d to propose a sovereign fire-support system that can deal with high-value targets, either surface or point targets, Thales said, without providing further details.<\/p>\n The new system will replace nine M270s on a Bradley tracked chassis, one of the rare pieces of U.S.-origin combat equipment still serving with the French Army, whose force is built around French-developed and manufactured tanks, armored\u00a0vehicles and tube artillery.<\/p>\n Replacing the decades-old LRU is a priority for the army, according to the 2025 defense budget, with a sovereign solution preferred as long as it can be achieved rapidly and with controlled costs.<\/p>\n Army engineers may be able extend the lifespan of the LRU by another two to three years, but not much longer, according to P\u00e9ria-Peign\u00e9 at IFRI.<\/p>\n The goal of a sovereign solution had \u201cnot been abandoned,\u201d French Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Thierry Burkhard told a National Assembly hearing<\/a> in October.<\/p>\n Chiva said in November the LRU replacement \u201cmust be sovereign, and we are working towards this,\u201d with the project taking some time due to the need to define Army requirements and \u201ca certain confusion\u201d in the requests.<\/p>\n The urgency of the capacity requirement may dictate having to turn to a foreign system after all, National Assembly special budget rapporteur Christophe Plassard said in October<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the same time, HIMARS may not be a solution, as stress on production lines means delivery of the U.S system might not be possibly starting in 2027, the National Assembly\u2019s defense committee wrote in an evaluation<\/a> of the 2025 defense budget published in October.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is internal tension between supporters of the off-the-shelf solution and those in favor of national development,\u201d P\u00e9ria-Peign\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n